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I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills further as a writer.
WARNING: This story contains some MATURE LANGUAGE
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN MEDAL OF HONOR OR HALO
ALL OC'S ARE MINE
Chapter 15: The Hunter... is now the Hunted
3 days later...
Location: Epsilon Eridani System, planet Earth- Mombasa
August 7, 2537
0900 hours
Captain Jack Pravdin and Lieutenant Matt Armstrong were lying prone and waiting at the top floor of the hotel. Jack was looking through a set of spotting binoculars, while Matt was assembling the SRS99 sniper rifle. After Matt had finished assembling the rifle, he set up the bipod and grabbed his own set of binoculars. Suddenly, Jack saw that the meeting was starting.
"Lieutanent Armstrong, the meeting in is underway. Enemy transport sighted entering the target area." he said as he motioned Matt to man the sniper rifle.
Matt put his binoculars away, checked the rifle for what seemed like the thousandth time to make sure it was loaded, then got behind the rifle and looked through the the sniper scope. Once he put his eye to the scope, he saw the electronics inside the rifle turn on.
The electronics said:
[Target: Vladimir Zemo]
[Distance to target: 896.7m]
[Bullet travel time: 1.05s]
Matt saw a pack of vechicles, crates, and several tables. One table had assault rifles on it. A second table had shotguns on it. A third had a rocket launcher on it. A fourth had three magnums. And a fifth had a mix assortment of assault rifles, pistols, anti-personal mines, and rocket launchers on it.
"The wind's gettin' a bit choppy." Jack said as he studied the meeting. "You can compensate for it or wait it out, but he might leave before it dies down. It's your call. Remember what I taught you. Keep in mind variable humidity and wind speed along the bullet's flight path. At this distance you'll have also have to take the Coriolis Effect into account."
They saw another vechicle rolled up. It had an insurgent flag on it. Shortly after, their target appeared coming out of the vechicle that just pulled up, with a briefcase in his hands.
"Ok... I think I see him. Wait for my mark." Jack said as he started to acquire a lock on the target. "Target acquired. I have a positive I.D. on Vladimir Zemo."
Matt looked at the man he ws ordered to kill and steadied his breathing.
"Steady... keep an eye on that flag," Jack said. "Watch for any change in wind speed or direction."
Zemo walked up to a set of crates, put the briefcase on it and opened it. The case was filled with gold.
The flag by the vechicle keot flapping in the wind. Matt decided to wait until the wind died down. Once the wind had died down, he prepared to fire. Unfortunely, when he was about to squeeze the trigger, a falcon moved in front of his scope, blocking his view of the target.
"Ack, where did he come from?" Matt asked, agitated.
"Patience laddie... wait for a clear shot," Jack said.
The falcon flew away. Matt continued to aim at Zemo. Matt saw Zemo still talking with his dealers. Zemo raised his arms in frustration, as if there was something wrong with the deal. Matt saw the flag gradually become still. Matt saw his chance, and maybe his last chance, to take the shot.
"It's now or never, take the shot!" Jack said.
Matt fired the rifle. After 1.05s the high caliber bullet hit Zemo, the man's body jumped slightly in the air, spun around, and in the process, tore his left arm completely off his body.
"Target down. I think you blew off his arm," Jack said. "Shock and blood loss'll take care of the rest."
A falcon suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Shit... they're onto us!" Jack said. "Take out that falcon, it'll buy us some time."
Matt aimed at the cockpit. He saw the pilot inside. He aimed and quickly shot the pilot in the head. The bullet hit the man in the head, killing him and his blood and brain matter splattered all across the headrest behind him. The falcon spun out of control and exploded in a ball of fire.
"Great shot, Leiutanent," Jack commented. "Now let's go! They'll be searching for us!"
Matt and Jack both stood up and grabbed the rest of their gear.
"It's time to move!" Jack said as they finished grabbing the gear.
They started running to a nearby window behind them.
"We'll have to take a shortcut! Follow my lead!" Jack said as he took out some rope.
They tied their rope to the railing by the window and hooked up to the rope. They jumped over the railing and started to rappel down just as a second falcon showed up and blew up the top floor of the hotel. Once they reached the bottom, they unhooked and pulled out their DMRs.
"Lieutenant Armstrong, follow me!" Jack said.
They started moving towards the LZ, which was near the Mombasa Farris Wheel.
"Delta Two-Four, this is Alpha Six," Jack said. "We have been compromised, I repeat we have been compromised, now heading to Extraction Point Four!"
"Alpha Six, Big Bird is en route. ETA - 20 minutes." the pilot said. "Don't be late. We're stretchin' our fuel as it is. Out."
"Copy that, Big Bird," Jack said. "We won't be late."
As they moved to the street they encountered a lot of insurgents. The took cover as the insurgents began firing on them.
The UNSC duo began firing back. They would kill one, but two more would take his place. It seemed like there were endless amounts of insurgents.
"Forget these guys, we're going to get left behind! Let's get to the extraction point!" Jack said as they kept pushing forward. "We've got to reach the extraction point before we run out of time. Keep moving. Go!"
They managed to take out enough insurgents and ran past the remaining insurgents; then they made a run for an apartment building.
"We'll lose them in that apartment! Come on!" Jack said.
They moved quickly moved through the apartment. They climbed out of a window and landed in a small alley to reach another apartment.
A dog suddenly appeared and ran towards them, but a fence stopped him. Matt raised his rifle and shot and killed the dog to shut it up.
"Dogs," he muttered. "I hate dogs."
They moved through the next apartment and when the reached the end, they saw enemy troops outside.
"Standby...!" Jack said. "Quick, plant an anti-personal mine by the door up ahead."
Matt snuck to the door and planted a mine by the door as Jack instructed him to. One enemy started walking towards the door, and when walked past the threshold, the mine triggered and killed him.
Matt and Jack then started to engage the remaining insurgents outside the apartment. They moved out into an grass alley and enemy troops started coming out of the apartment across from them.
"More behind us!" Matt cried out.
They turned and started to engage the insurgents that had come out of the apartment.
Once all the enemies were taken out, they heard the familiar sound of a pelican approaching.
"Incoming falcon!" Jack shouted. "Matt, shoot the falcon's rotors! We'll take it down together."
They began shooting the falcon's twin tiltrotors and damaged the them. The falcon started to spin around.
"Good night, ya bastard," Jack said.
Suddenly, the falcon hit the apartment, firing its missiles, and crashed towards the duo.
"Ahhh... fuck!" Matt cried.
"Run!" Jack shouted.
They turned around and began high tailing it out of the area, hoping to not get killed by the crashing falcon that was coming towards them.
As they were running, Matt saw Jack fall to the ground out of the corner of his eye. Jack fell, injuring his leg. Matt turned back to help his mentor and watched in horror as the falcon crashed to the ground and stopped just inches away from Jack. The craft's right tiltrotor was spinning slowly, nearly trapping the captain under, but Jack raised his arm and stopped it.
'Whew... at least I don't have to go to Claire and tell her that her husband died and she's now a widow.' he thought.
Matt ran over to him and asked, "Are you alright?"
Jack coughed. "Shit! My leg's all messed up. I can't move." he said as he looked up at Matt. "Sorry man, but your gonna have to carry me."
Matt helped him up and started to carry him on his back.
"If we run into trouble, you'll have to find a spot to put me down so I can over you," Jack said.
"You got it," Matt replied.
"The extraction point is to the southwest," Jack said. "We can still make it if we hurry."
"Then let's not waste any time," Matt said.
"Damn it," Jack murmered. "Claire's gonna kill me."
"She's not gonna kill you," Matt shot back.
"If you say so, Matt," he said. "If we get out of here alive, drinks are on me."
Matt chucked. "I figured you'd say that. I know you too well."
Jack laughed. "Yeah, I suppose you do."
As Matt carried Jack through the streets of Monbasa, they could hear insurgents coming towards them.
"Hostiles coming in from the west. Enemies closing in," Jack said. "Put me down in a good spot where I can cover you."
Matt set Jack down by an old, rusty, and very beat up car. As most was setting him down, Jack said, "Careful..."
"I'll call out targets see I them," Jack said.
"Copy that," Matt replied.
"Ok, here they come. Stay down. Movement. Northwest."
Matt looked up from behind a trash can that he was taking cover behind and saw a half dozen hostiles.
Matt and Jack raised their weapons and killed them quickly.
"Contact southwest. Hostiles closing in for the west. More coming in from the north." Jack called out.
Once all the targets were eliminated, Jack said, "It's time to move, give me a lift."
Matt went and picked Jack up again.
As Matt was picking him up, Jack said, "Easy now..."
"Does it hurt?" he asked.
"A little, but I can handle the pain."
As the pair continued on, they encounter light resistance from thr insurgents.
"I figured there'd be more resistance than this," Matt said.
"Oh, there will be. You just wait and see," Jack replied.
They headed for a apartment.
"Head for that apartment," Jack pointed. "We'll try to lose them in there."
"Oh, that's just great," Matt muttered.
"I take you don't like apartments?" Jack said with a laugh.
"No, I'm just getting tired of apartments today," Matt replied.
They entered the apartment and moved to the second floor.
"Set me down, here," Jack said. "You go clear the rooms."
Matt compiled and pulled out one of his M6 sidearms and one of his kukri knives.
"Still have those?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, they've served me well so far."
He nodded. "Good. Now, go clear the rooms. I'll wait here."
Matt nodded and advanced into the first room. He entered and checked every corner. Seeing no one, he moved to the room. When he entered, a dog burst out of a nearby closet and charged him, barking and growling loudly.
The dog managed to tackle him to the ground and tried to rip his neck open. Matt struggled to defend himself and finally managed to grab hold of the barking dog's mouth, close it shut, and snapped the dog's neck.
Matt got up and retrieved his fallen wespons. As he approached a third room, it burst open and an insurgent wielding an assault rifle opened fire, spraying rapidly. Matt shot him twice in the head. Once between the eyes and the second through the man's forehead. Surprisingly, none of the bullets the insurgent fired hit him. Matt then finished clearing the second floor of the apartment.
"Looks like we're clear." Matt said as he returned to where Jack was. Matt saw that he was in pain and asked, "Are you sure your alright, Jack?"
Jack nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. We should get moving."
Matt started to pick Jack up when he said, "Easy now..."
"I thought you said you were ok." Matt demanded. "What happened?"
"I swear to god, Matt I'm fine. Now we should get moving."
Matt nodded and sighed. "If you say so, Jack."
Matt carried Jack through the apartment and they continued on to the extraction point. In the distance, they could hear an insurgent talking on a loudspeaker.
Jack pointed to the building in front of them and said, "We're almost there. The extraction point is on the other side of that building."
They moved through the building and they saw a a swimming pool. At the deep end of the pool, they saw four dogs feeding onto a dead body. The UNSC soldiers ignored the dogs. Outside, they saw two guards. Matt set Jack down and killed the two guards. Then he picked Jack up again and carried him towards the Mombasa Ferris Wheel.
The pilot's crackled to life over the COM. "Alpha Six, this is Big Bird. Standing by for your signal, over."
"Our pelican is standing by at a safe distance," Jack said. "Put me down behind the Ferris Wheel where I can provide sniper support."
Matt moved towards the back of Ferris Wheel.
"This'll be fine." Jack said as he pointed to a spot on the ground.
Matt put Jack down in the spot that he had indicated.
Jack pulled out his anti-personal mines and said, "Take the rest of my mines, now is the time to use them. And if you have any mines left, now's the time to use them. The enemy is bound to enter this area, so find a good sniping position. I'll signal the pelican in thirty seconds."
Matt took Jack's anti-personal mines from him, then took out his own mines and started to place them around the area. After planting the mines done, he looked around for a good sniping position.
"Find a good spot to snipe and go prone," Jack ordered
A few seconds later, Matt found one. "Found one," he said.
"Alright lad, I've activated the beacon," Jack said. "Good luck."
"Alpha Six. We have a fix on your position," the pelican pilot said. "Hang tight. Big Bird, out."
A few minutes later, the UNSC soldiers saw enemies approaching them from the building they exited earlier.
"Tangos in sight," Jack said. "Let them get closer."
The enemies kept moving closer.
"Standby to engage..." Jack said. "Open fire."
Both men opened fire with their DMRs. The insurgents scattered when the bullets began flying towards them. Several insurgents ran into the mines that Matt had put down earlier. The four dogs in the pool entered the fray and attacked the insurgents. Once all of the enemies all the dogs ran away, several Falcons appeared.
"Enemy Falcons incoming!" Jack said.
The Falcons began dropping troops. The duo continued firing.
"Big Bird we are heavily outnumbered, where are you?" Jack said.
"Copy that, Alpha, we'll be there ASAP. Hold tight," the pilot said.
The insurgents kept coming. It seemed like there was an endless amount of them.
Finally, after holding their ground for an excruciating long four minutes, Big Bird showed up.
"Alpha Team, this is Big Bird. Get your ass on board, over," the pilot said.
Four ODSTs exited the rear of the pelican and started to provide covering fire.
"Alpha Team, we're at bingo fuel. You got thirty seconds!" the pilot said.
Matt quickly ran over to Jack and said, "Time to go, old man."
Jack snorted as Matt picked him up. "Old man? Looks who's the old man carrying me around Mombasa."
"Shut up, Captain."
Matt ran to the pelican, carrying Jack on his back. They entered the pelican and Matt set Jack down. Matt then turned and pulled out his DMR and started providing cover fire for the four ODSTs. The ODSTs got in the pelican and the ship took off.
"Well, mission accomplished," Matt said as they flew away from Mombasa.
Jack nodded. "Good work. The shot on Zemo was excellent, as always."
"When we get back to base, your buying." Matt said, reminding Jack of his previous statement.
"Heh, yeah I did say that, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did." Matt said as he leaned back against a seat and closed one eye.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
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-general ML